Partly Cloudy
by forensicsfan
Summary: COMPLETE - The promotion is announced and Sara buys Nick a beer, but then things get a little out of control.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own them, didn't create them, don't profit from them, etc.  
  
This idea came from some rumor I heard that Sara shows up at work drunk during some future episode. I just took it from there.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
The promotion for Lead CSI had finally been announced. Much speculation had circulated around the lab that it would go to Sara Sidle. Rumors had also circulated that the reason she would get the promotion was because of some mysterious history that she'd had with Grissom.  
  
Sara was the last person that expected she would get the promotion, especially because of the way her and Grissom hadn't been getting along the last several months. So when the announcement came that Nick Stokes had gotten the promotion, she wasn't surprised. She didn't doubt Nick's qualifications, she'd worked side by side with him and knew that he was a great CSI, however, what she did doubt was whether or not Grissom had even truly considered her qualifications when he made his recommendation.  
  
Sara had offered to buy Nick a beer to celebrate him getting the promotion and to show that she was happy for him and didn't have any hard feelings about how things had turned out. She'd reserved her hard feelings for Grissom a long time ago. Warrick and Catherine begged off going with them, both of them having previous commitments, even Greg was busy, and Grissom, well Grissom claimed he had a case to work on. So Nick and Sara decided just to head to his house and grab some pizza and beer along the way.  
  
One beer turned into two and then three, and by the time they'd finished the pizza, they had both downed enough beer to cloud their judgement.  
  
"He probably didn't even look at my application. I was such an idiot for throwing myself at him." Sara had been going into great depth about how unfairly she felt she'd been treated by Grissom.  
  
"He's the idiot, Sara. Any guy who would turn you down is insane." Nick's inhibitions were slowly slipping away. He'd been attracted to Sara for a long time, but he'd never acted on it.  
  
"It's not that I don't think you deserve the promotion, Nick, I just really wanted it." Sara didn't want him thinking that she didn't think he was qualified. "You're a damn fine CSI, hell, you're just damn fine." She reached over and squeezed one of his biceps to emphasize her point.  
  
Nick chuckled. "I could have lived without the promotion, I thought you would have gotten it. I would have been ok with that." He looked over at Sara, and suddenly didn't give a damn about how she might react to what he would say. "Did anyone ever tell you how sexy you are?"  
  
Sara giggled. "Are you coming on to me, Nicky?"  
  
He felt bold. "Maybe I am. What are you going to do about it?" He watched her for a moment before reaching over and putting his hand on her thigh, slowly caressing it with his thumb.  
  
Sara didn't have any inhibitions anymore. The alcohol had loosened her up quite a bit. "I might just have to return the favor." She reached for his hand and stood up, trying to pull him with her. Her equilibrium was considerably off and she ended up falling back toward the couch instead, straddling Nick's lap.  
  
"Throwing yourself at me, Sara?" Nick sounded amused and drunk.  
  
"Hell yeah." She giggled.  
  
Nick reached up and cupped the side of her face, pulling her into a kiss that quickly became heated.  
  
As they broke apart to catch their breaths, Sara reached down for the hem of her shirt trying to tug it upward to no avail. A frustrated expression that was almost comical crossed her face. "Won't come off."  
  
Nick reached for the front of her shirt and began to unfasten the fitted button up shirt, starting at the bottom. "Gotta unbutton it first." Nick began to kiss the exposed skin as he released each button, finally pulling it off of her shoulders and sliding it down her arms until it fell to the floor.  
  
Sara giggled as he planted feather light kisses on her abdomen. "That tickles." She reached over and cupped his face, leaning towards him until their lips met in an openmouthed kiss.  
  
Nick willingly responded to the kiss, his hands gripping her waist, his thumbs caressing the bare skin over her ribs.  
  
She began to tug at the hem of his shirt as they continued to kiss, breaking apart long enough to pull the offending garment over his head and toss it to the side. She mumbled against his mouth. "Bedroom."  
  
Nick tried to stand, his legs feeling wobbly as he tried to lift her off of his lap in the process. They stumbled their way down the hallway toward his bedroom. As Nick tried to shed his jeans along the way he ended up falling down in the middle of the hall, pulling Sara down with him.  
  
She was giggling uncontrollably. "Your floor is moving."  
  
Nick laughed. "I'll have to get that checked out." He pushed her onto her back and began to kiss her, sliding his hand down toward the top button of her jeans. Nick tugged her jeans down and then awkwardly kicked his own jeans the rest of the way off before deciding to try and stand again. He braced himself on the wall and pulled Sara up with him.  
  
They stumbled the last few feet to his bed and tumbled onto it laughing against each other's mouths. Sara let Nick to pull her against him as they shared a passionate kiss.  
  
By the time they'd crawled under the covers and shed their remaining undergarments, they were both exhausted from the effort and drowsy from the amount of alcohol they'd consumed.  
  
"Nicky, I'm tired." Sara murmured, having a hard time keeping her eyes open.  
  
Nick yawned. "Me too."  
  
Sara nestled against him, too tired to do much else. "Sleepy."  
  
Nick felt himself drifting off to sleep, his arms were wrapped around Sara and he mumbled softly. "Sara, you're the best I've never had."  
  
Somewhere in the back of her mind she found his comment funny, but was too tired to even laugh. She just let herself fall asleep, her head resting against his chest. 


	2. Hangovers and Headaches

Sara's mind was fuzzy. Her head felt like what she'd assumed getting hit with a baseball bat would feel like. She'd had that sensation only a few times in her life when she was dumb enough to drink to excess. The last time was when she was an undergrad in college. She had the odd feeling that she was pinned down, but couldn't understand why, that is, until she felt a warm body pressed against hers, a very warm, very naked male body.  
  
Panic surged through Sara's mind as she tried to take stock of the situation. She tried to open her eyes, but the faint light drifting in through the heavy wooden shutters hurt her eyes. Wooden shutters. This was not her house, which meant this was not her bed. She took a couple of deep breaths trying to keep calm. She could tell from the arm slung across her waist and the cheek resting on her shoulder that she wore no clothes. The leg slung between hers and the manhood resting against her hip drove that point home.  
  
Sara tried to remember the events that put her in this situation to no avail. The last thing she remembered was leaving work and going over to Nick's to help him celebrate getting the promotion.  
  
Nick.  
  
She felt a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach and she couldn't decide if it was because of the situation that she found herself in or if she was going to throw up. At the moment she was betting on both. It wasn't that she didn't find Nick attractive, she did. She had just hoped if they ever ended up in bed together that she'd at least remember it, at least know how they got there.  
  
The thought occurred to her that she could sneak out and hope that he didn't remember anything either, but then the realization that she had no idea where her clothes were hit her, not to mention that she was effectively pinned down at the moment. Her head was throbbing even more now than when she first had woken up and the last thing she wanted to do was move for fear that the entire contents of her stomach would make a sudden appearance.  
  
She felt him stirring and she braced herself for him to leap from the bed as soon as he saw who he shared it with.  
  
Nick's eyes slowly blinked open to see Sara with a look of apprehension on her face. He did the only thing he could think of. He smiled at her. "Hi."  
  
Sara closed her eyes. Nick's voice sounded like a freight train to her pounding head. "You're shouting." Even her own voice sounded far too loud.  
  
"Hangover." Nick mumbled, closing his eyes again and tightening his grip on Sara's waist. He silently wondered to himself how they had ended up in this situation. They were both completely naked and the last thing he remembered was eating pizza and drinking beer. There was a lot of beer. He had a vague recollection of kissing Sara and her being extremely receptive to the idea as they discarded articles of clothing, but for the life of him, he could not remember if they'd had sex. He found that thought disappointing. He'd been attracted to Sara for a long time, and he knew that sex with her was not something he'd want to forget. He silently cursed himself.  
  
Sara moaned. Her stomach was making it's presence known, but she didn't want to move. She couldn't remember where Nick's bathroom was and she really didn't want to go in search of it especially in light of the fact that she didn't know where her clothes were.  
  
Nick's eyes blinked open again. He could tell from the look on Sara's face that she didn't feel well. He'd seen that look far too many times during college. It was the look of someone about ready to empty their stomach after drinking too much. Concern furrowed his brow. He intentionally whispered knowing that her head must really be hurting since he knew she didn't drink too often. "You don't feel well do you?"  
  
Sara moaned and shook her head, closing her eyes and suddenly bringing her hand up to her mouth. The need to keep herself covered up was overcome by the need to throw up and Sara quickly pushed Nick away and jumped out of bed, dashing for what she hoped was the bathroom.  
  
Nick could hear her expelling her stomach contents into the toilet and he slowly pulled himself from the bed, stopping at his dresser to find a pair of boxers before looking for some clothes to offer Sara.  
  
When he came to the bathroom door, he knocked softly. "Sara, you doing ok?"  
  
She answered with something halfway between a whimper and a moan.  
  
He slowly cracked the door and thrust the clothes he'd pulled out of his dresser inside the bathroom. "I got you something to wear. If you put these on, I'll come in and help you."  
  
Sara grabbed the T-shirt and boxers that Nick had tossed into the bathroom and somehow managed to pull them on before she threw up again.  
  
Nick softly tapped at the door. "Are you dressed?"  
  
"Uh, huh." Sara managed as she hugged the rim of the toilet, not particularly caring whether it had been cleaned recently.  
  
Nick sank down next to her. "I think you need to go back and lay down." He searched her face, wondering if she had any more recollection of how they'd ended up in bed together than he did.  
  
Sara nodded, closing her eyes as she felt her head throbbing.  
  
Nick helped her back to the bed and crawled in next to her. His head was throbbing too, but he'd gotten used to working in spite of the occasional hangover.  
  
Sara closed her eyes, not caring right now that she still had no idea what had transpired between them, but having a damn good idea based on the evidence.  
  
They both drifted back to sleep, knowing that they'd have to eventually deal with the aftermath of what they'd woken up to, but for the moment, hangovers and headaches demanded sleep. 


	3. The Elephant in the Middle of the Room

When Sara woke up again she felt Nick's arm slung loosely across her waist. She studied him as he slept. He looked so peaceful when he was asleep, almost like a little boy. Despite the awkwardness of the situation, she found herself smiling. Why was it that the most beautiful eyelashes were wasted on men? The pounding in her head had lessened somewhat, but she still didn't feel well. She felt her stomach churn again and she slid out from under Nick's arm and ran to the bathroom where she threw up. She made a mental note that the next time she felt like drinking to oblivion, to drink Coke instead. She crawled back into the bed where Nick was still sound asleep. As she closed her eyes to try and go back to sleep, Nick reached for her in his sleep, putting his arm around her waist and resting his head on her shoulder. Sara drifted back to sleep, unconsciously snuggling closer to him.  
  
The next time Sara woke up, she realized that she was alone. Nick must have gotten up. She knew that they were going to have to talk about what had happened between them. The problem was, she couldn't remember the one thing she wanted to know. Aside from drinking, kissing, and taking her shirt off. Inwardly she groaned. She'd thrown herself at Nick. She'd gotten drunk and thrown herself at Nick. Pieces filtered through her cloudy mind and began to fit together. Nick had gotten the promotion. In an effort to make sure he knew she was happy for him, she'd told him she'd buy him a beer. Only it hadn't been just one beer. They'd bought a case of beer and pizza, and from the way she felt she was pretty sure that there wasn't much of the beer left.  
  
She pulled herself out of bed and hugged her arms around her body as she padded down the hallway in the T-shirt and boxers Nick gave her to wear in search of him.  
  
He stood in the kitchen clad in boxers and a T-shirt pouring a cup of coffee. The recycle bin next to the trash was nearly full of empty beer bottles. He glanced up as he heard her approaching. He looked concerned. "How are you feeling?"  
  
"Less crappy than earlier, but I still feel like I've been hit by a car." She attempted a smirk to try and lighten the situation.  
  
Nick smiled at her. "Coffee?"  
  
"Please." Sara gratefully reached out for the cup he offered her, taking a long sip.  
  
The silence between them was a little overwhelming. Neither one of them wanted to be the first one to bring up the proverbial elephant in the living room. Finally, Nick cleared his throat. "I, uh, found some of your clothes. I put them on top of my dresser." He just looked at her for a long moment before continuing. "I, uh, think your underwear is in the bed somewhere."  
  
If she could have commanded that the floor swallow her up at that moment, she would have. Sara closed her eyes and fixated on the smell of the coffee, finally getting the courage to look Nick in the eye. "Uh, thanks." She gestured toward the clothes she had on and then looked back at him again. "And thanks for these. I, uh, this, well, uh." She tried to quell the panic that threatened to surface and then just blurted out what she was trying to say. "Did we sleep together?"  
  
Nick chuckled involuntarily at her nervousness. He felt it too, and it answered a few questions he'd been pondering since he'd woken up. His expression became more serious as Sara looked at him desperately. "Hey, we slept, I know that for sure. I just don't remember if we had sex."  
  
Sara bit her lip. "I don't remember either."  
  
"I can remember most of the rest of it, just not that." Nick continued. "And believe me, that's something I would have wanted to remember."  
  
Sara regarded him for a moment, not quite sure how to respond. Was he actually saying that he was attracted to her?  
  
Nick studied her. He could tell she was feeling weird about the whole situation. Hell, so was he. "Sara, I'm not sure what to say here."  
  
She looked him in the eye. "Neither am I. Did we mean for this to happen?"  
  
"We haven't established that it actually did." He replied taking a sip from his cup of coffee.  
  
There was an edge to her voice. "We were in bed together, Nick. Neither one of us was wearing any clothes. I have a vague recollection of throwing myself at you and then the rest is sort of a blur."  
  
Nick tried to restrain his smile. "Actually, you only threw yourself at me after I came on to you."  
  
Sara closed her eyes and her shoulders started to move as she buried her face in her hands. She didn't make a sound and at first Nick thought she was crying.  
  
He reached over and put a hand on her shoulder. "Sara?" He was afraid that he'd made the biggest mistake of his life and ruined their friendship.  
  
Sara looked at him and only then did Nick realize that she was laughing, not crying. She finally found her words. "This is like a scene out of a movie, only we don't have the script to us what happened."  
  
Nick nodded. "Is that funny?"  
  
She shook her head. "I can't believe I threw myself at you."  
  
"You did." Nick took another sip from his coffee. "But I hit on you first."  
  
Sara looked at him for a moment. "Can I ask you something?"  
  
Nick nodded.  
  
She tilted her head slightly. "Just how much did we drink?"  
  
He gestured toward the bottles in the recycle bin. "About half of those."  
  
She grimaced. "I don't drink much."  
  
Nick tried to restrain his smile. "I can tell."  
  
A thought suddenly hit Sara and panic flashed across her face. "What time is it?"  
  
Nick glanced at the clock on the wall. "We have to be at work in two hours."  
  
Sara breathed a sigh of relief and then rubbed her temples with her fingers. "I don't know how the hell I'm going to work with a headache like this."  
  
"Drink another beer." Nick took another sip of his coffee.  
  
She looked at him skeptically. "Drink another beer. Uh, I think we've both had plenty."  
  
He smirked. "It helps the hangover." He finished his coffee and set his cup in the sink and then grabbed her a beer, handing it to her after removing the cap. He gestured toward the bathroom. "I'm going to go take a shower. Make yourself at home."  
  
She nodded. "Uh, yeah, sure." Holding the beer in her hand she wondered if it would really help. 


	4. The Evidence Doesn't Lie, But What Does ...

While Nick was in the shower, Sara drank the beer and decided to look for her underwear. Wandering back into Nick's bedroom, she didn't see them anywhere on the floor so she decided that she would pull the blankets off of his bed to see if they had gotten tangled in the sheets. She set the beer down on his nightstand and as she did she froze. There was a big piece missing from this puzzle and suddenly she didn't feel well again, only this time it wasn't because her stomach was churning. She sat down on the edge of the bed and stared into the wastebasket. She was still sitting there when Nick returned from the bathroom.  
  
He wandered back into his bedroom in his boxers, towel drying his hair, and looked at her quizzically. "Uh, Sara? Are you ok?"  
  
She glanced up at him. Fear was clearly etched on her face. "There's no condom in the trash. There's not even a wrapper."  
  
He stopped in his tracks and followed her gaze to the wastebasket. "Well, maybe that just means we didn't do what we thought we might have done." He was trying to keep his voice calm.  
  
Her voice was earnest. "What if we did? If we did that means we had unprotected sex."  
  
"Now, Sara, let's think about this rationally." His voice wavered.  
  
Her eyebrows shot up and she looked at him in disbelief. "Rationally? Nick, you're not the one who has to worry about whether or not you might get pregnant."  
  
At that last word, Nick swallowed hard. He was going to have to think seriously about whether he really liked beer that much. "Ok, but I think we're getting ahead of ourselves here. We still don't know for sure that we actually had sex."  
  
"Well we don't know that we didn't either." There was mild irritation and panic in Sara's voice.  
  
Nick let out a deep breath and sat down on the bed next to Sara. "But we still don't know that we did. I mean both of us seem to remember quite a bit, and it's obvious where it was headed by where we ended up, but neither of us can remember that little detail."  
  
"I'd hardly call that a little detail, Nick." There was an elevation in the tone of her voice.  
  
He tried to sound reassuring. "Ok, so it's not such a little detail, but the fact is, we still don't know if we had sex, Sara. I'm pretty sure that I would have remembered if we had because I'm sure I would have enjoyed it."  
  
"Nick, we were both drunk. As much as we both think we'd remember something that I'm sure would have been a memorable experience, alcohol clouds things." Sara still felt slightly panicked, but she was also considering Nick's words and had to restrain a smile.  
  
He knew she was right, but a smile played at his lips. "I still say that if I'd had sex with you, I wouldn't be able to forget it."  
  
Sara glanced over at him as an idea struck her. "Do you have your kit in your Denali?"  
  
Nick looked confused for a moment. "Yeah, but why?"  
  
Sara rolled her eyes momentarily as if he was an idiot for even asking. "Alternate light source."  
  
If Sara hadn't been so serious, Nick might have laughed at running the ALS over his bed to see if there was any evidence on the sheets that they'd had sex. "I'll go grab it." He got up and headed toward the door of the bedroom.  
  
"Nick." Sara halted him with her voice.  
  
He turned around with a befuddled expression. "Yeah?"  
  
Sara pointed at him, her expression slightly amused at him standing there in his underwear. "You might want to put a pair of pants on."  
  
He glanced down and upon seeing that he only had his boxer shorts on, an embarrassed smile spread across his face.  
  
Sara smiled. As Nick grabbed a pair of jeans and pulled them on and then disappeared down the hallway and outside to retrieve the ALS from his Denali, Sara considered the situation. What prompted them getting themselves into this situation in the first place? Did the alcohol just allow them to get to what was bubbling under the surface? With all the flirting they'd done over the last three and a half years, did they both really want something more? If that was the case, then even if they'd had sex, maybe this wasn't a mistake, maybe it was just a push, albeit a surprising push, in the right direction.  
  
Nick returned with the ALS in hand and two pairs of orange goggles. "You want to get the lights?"  
  
Sara got up and took the second pair of goggles from Nick's hand before walking over and turning the light out.  
  
Nick smiled at her as she came and stood next to him. "Do you want to do the honors?"  
  
Sara chuckled in spite of herself. "Sure." If anyone at work found out that they were using the ALS on Nick's bed to try and figure out if they'd had sex, they'd never live it down. Sara pulled the sheets and comforter off the bed and Nick turned the ALS on. Sara grimaced as little patches fluoresced on the sheets.  
  
Sara's voice sounded professional. "I'd expect more without a condom."  
  
"Still, there appears to be a little bit of both of us here." Nick tried to sound logical as they surveyed the fluorescing material on the sheets.  
  
Sara glanced over at him. "Are you sure it's both of us? I mean I know there's evidence of a female, I mean, uh, that."  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow to silence her. "Yes, I'm sure it's a little bit of both of us. I haven't been with anyone in quite a while."  
  
Sara tried to rationalize. "How long is a while?" When Sara had moved to Vegas, Nick had a reputation that led you to believe he went through women as often as he changed his sheets.  
  
Nick looked somewhat embarrassed. He let out a deep sigh and studied her. "Would you like the date and time?"  
  
Sara tried to suppress the embarrassed smile that began to spread across her face. "I'm sorry, Nick."  
  
He smiled at her. "Sara, it's been long enough to know that it can't be anyone but you." No one really knew that after Kristy Hopkins was murdered he had thrown himself more into his job and hadn't dated much.  
  
Sara studied the bed and furrowed her brow, gesturing towards it. "This doesn't really give us anything conclusive. I mean aside from the obvious fact we were definitely attracted enough to each other to, uh." She stopped talking.  
  
Nick glanced over at Sara. "You said it yourself, Sara. We woke up naked together. What other conclusion can we come to? We got drunk and had sex." Nick's only regret was that he couldn't remember the last part.  
  
Sara crossed her arms in front of her body. "We don't know that, the evidence isn't absolutely conclusive."  
  
Nick started laughing. "Do you realize how ridiculous we sound?"  
  
Sara smirked and then started laughing. "Yes, and if anyone at work gets wind of this, we're never going to live it down." She shot him a serious glance. "You're not going to say a word about using the ALS in here are you?"  
  
Nick grinned and shook his head. "No, I'm not." He started laughing again and caught Sara's eye. "For a minute there I was afraid you were going to suggest we take samples from the sheets and have Greg run a DNA profile."  
  
Sara's jaw dropped. "If he found out, we'd not only never hear the end of it, he'd embellish."  
  
"You know we do look pretty ridiculous." He chuckled, pushing the goggles onto the top of his head.  
  
And they did look pretty ridiculous too. Nick stood there clad only in his jeans and a pair of orange goggles holding the ALS and Sara wore one of his T-shirts and a pair of his boxers in addition to another pair of orange goggles. Nick's comforter and sheets were on the floor, and Sara still hadn't found her underwear.  
  
Nick turned the ALS off and walked over and flicked the bedroom light on. As he glanced down at the floor, he grinned. He walked back toward the tangle of sheets and pulled out a black lace bra and held it up looking like the cat that swallowed the proverbial canary.  
  
Sara reached for it, but Nick dangled it just out of reach. Sara rolled her eyes. "Nick."  
  
Nick chuckled, a mischievous glint in his eye as he held it up by the straps in front of his face. "I seem to recall you looked pretty damn sexy in this. I sure as hell wouldn't mind seeing you in it again, or out of it for that matter."  
  
Color began to creep up Sara's face as she grabbed for the bra again, this time successfully. "We have to work, Nick." She tried to glare at him, but it came out as a smirk. She smiled to herself that it indeed appeared that Nick seemed to want something a little more than friendship, now if she could figure out if it was because of the predicament they'd woken up in, or if he really had feelings for her. She wasn't about to end up like that with him again unless she knew the answer to that question.  
  
They searched through the sheets, but Sara finally gave up on locating her panties and just got dressed so she could go home, shower, and change before work. 


	5. A Different Kind of Locker Room Talk

Sara had almost finished getting ready for work when she noticed it. A smirk spread across her face as she fingered the small bruise on her neck. Nick Stokes was going to catch hell from her and she was going to have to change her shirt if she didn't want the entire lab to notice the souvenir he had left on her neck. Fortunately, the blemish wasn't too high up on her neck and she found a button up shirt with a collar that covered most of it. Hopefully no one would look at her too closely and see it.  
  
As she drove to work, she considered the whole situation. Minus the hangover, was waking up next to Nick in the buff such a bad place to be? If she was honest with herself, she'd have to admit that she'd thought about Nick like that on far more than one occasion. Perhaps the reason she'd been so obsessive about trying to figure out whether or not they'd actually completed the act of sex was because it was something she wanted, just not under those particular circumstances. She certainly could remember Nick's hands in some very personal places and had thoroughly enjoyed the sensations they produced, but she had a vague recollection that they'd both fallen asleep before the main event and that Nick had said something she'd found funny. Maybe if she could remember what he'd said, the rest of the pieces would fall into place.  
  
She was standing in front of her locker getting ready for shift when she heard someone walk in. She glanced over and noticed Nick approaching with a grin on his face.  
  
"You look pretty smug." Sara commented, closing her locker and attaching her badge to her belt.  
  
He raised a single eyebrow and continued to grin as he opened his locker. "I found something after you left."  
  
Worry flashed momentarily across her face as she considered the possibilities. "What did you find?"  
  
Nick leaned over and whispered conspiratorially toward her ear. "Sexy black underwear."  
  
A hint of color infused Sara's cheeks. "Please don't tell me you have them with you."  
  
Nick chuckled. "Now, Sara, I think you know me better than that." He closed his locker and attached his badge to his belt and glanced up at her. "I put them on the bulletin board in the lobby."  
  
An expression of horror flashed across her face. "Nick." Her voice had an 'I'm going to kill you' tone in it.  
  
He raised an eyebrow. "I'm kidding." He tried to restrain a smile. "They're still at my house. I was hoping you could come over later and model them for me."  
  
"You think you're pretty funny don't you?" Sara looked mildly amused.  
  
He gave up trying to restrain his smile. "I know I'm funny, not to mention charming and sexy."  
  
She smirked at him and pulled the collar away from her neck. "Guess what I found after I got home?"  
  
Nick noticed the mark on her neck and a self satisfied grin spread across his face. "Well, well, well, I gave you a hickey."  
  
Sara rolled her eyes. "You make it sound like we're in high school."  
  
Nick tried to restrain his grin and looked at her curiously. "Is that the only one?"  
  
Sara crossed her arms in front of her body and pursed her lips in an effort to keep from smiling as she looked at him. "I didn't check."  
  
Nick feigned a concerned expression. "Because you know, I could check that for you; make sure there aren't any others."  
  
Sara glanced around to make sure that there was still no one else in the locker room. She tried not to blush as she whispered. "You just want to see me naked."  
  
Nick leaned over and whispered loudly in return. "I already have." His grin returned to his face as he leaned his shoulder against his locker and looked at her.  
  
Sara raised an eyebrow at him. "You know, you never answered my question earlier."  
  
Nick looked at her curiously. "Which one was that?" She had asked a lot of questions earlier.  
  
Sara looked somewhat amused at Nick's expression. "You know the one where I asked if we meant for what happened to happen?"  
  
"And I believe I said that we didn't establish that anything had actually happened." Nick replied studying her.  
  
Sara looked annoyed. "Nick, something did happen, just probably not that one little detail, as you put it earlier."  
  
"Hey, don't get defensive." Nick raised a palm. "I don't think either one of us planned to be in that situation, because if we had, we both wouldn't have been freaking out earlier."  
  
Sara looked uncomfortable, suddenly wishing she hadn't brought the subject up.  
  
Nick reached over and put his hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze to get her attention. She looked up and met his gaze. "Sara, it might not have been planned, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad thing. I think it's pretty obvious that we're attracted to each other."  
  
Sara glanced down at the ground and let out a deep sigh. She looked back up at him and furrowed her brow. "I don't want to be a fling, Nick. Our friendship is too important to me to risk it for a little fun between the sheets."  
  
"I agree with you one hundred percent. However, I am attracted to you, and I'm not sure I'm satisfied with just being your friend any more, especially after what happened." Nick replied with a serious expression.  
  
Warrick walked by the entrance to the locker room and called out to the pair as he paused in the doorway. "Briefing's starting in a couple of minutes in the break room, and watch out, Grissom's in a bad mood."  
  
Nick raised a hand in acknowledgement. "Thanks for the heads up. We'll be there."  
  
As Nick returned his attention to Sara, he noticed her serious expression. "Let's talk about this later, ok?"  
  
Sara nodded. "Ok, but promise me you won't say a word about this to anyone."  
  
He grinned at her and winked. "Don't worry, I only told Greg."  
  
Sara's eyebrows shot up and she slugged him in the shoulder. "That is not funny."  
  
Nick laughed and raised his hands in surrender. "What? He said he wouldn't tell."  
  
"You'd better be kidding." Sara shot him a warning glare.  
  
Nick couldn't help but laugh at her expression. "Ok, I didn't say a word, but the look on his face would be priceless if he knew."  
  
Sara hissed at him. "Nick."  
  
"Ok, ok. Not a word." He started for the door of the locker room and then stopped, glancing over his shoulder at her. "What about Warrick?"  
  
Sara had an exasperated expression on her face. "How much do you value certain parts of your anatomy?" 


	6. My Lips Are Sealed, But He's Got the Nos...

"He wouldn't say anything." Nick continued to tease Sara all the way down the hall toward the break room.  
  
Just before they got to the doorway Sara grabbed his arm and shot him a glare. "Not a word or you're going to be singing soprano." She raised a single eyebrow to emphasize her point as she sauntered past him into the break room.  
  
Nick tried to restrain a laugh; Sara was so damn cute when she was flustered. Warrick looked at him curiously as Nick took a seat opposite Sara at the table. Nick just shrugged his shoulders and bit his tongue to keep from laughing.  
  
Grissom looked annoyed and wrinkled his nose as he regarded Sara's demeanor which seemed to be a mixture of anger and embarrassment.  
  
Only Catherine seemed to be missing, and she joined them a few moments later with Greg in tow.  
  
Grissom glanced over and began the briefing. "Warrick, you're with Catherine and I, we've got a multiple over at one of the jewelry stores in the Forum Shops."  
  
He turned his attention toward Nick. "Nicky, I want you to meet Vega near the long term parking at the airport. It appears to be a possible drive by shooting; number of victims currently unknown."  
  
Nick's eyebrows shot up. "I might need a little help." Nick loved getting a solo, but when there was the possibility of multiple victims, more hands made less work for everyone.  
  
Grissom's mouth formed into a half smile and he pointed toward the table. "You've got Sara and Greg."  
  
Greg couldn't contain his excitement and a smile spread across his face.  
  
Grissom looked at Sara over the rim of his glasses. "Sara, I need to speak to you in my office for a moment."  
  
Sara glanced around the table for a moment to see if anyone else had a clue as to what Grissom wanted, she received several shoulder shrugs and curious expressions in return. By the time she looked back toward Grissom, he had turned and headed out the door.  
  
"We'll meet you in the parking lot, Sara." Nick indicated as they all stood up and headed to their respective assignments.  
  
Grissom's brows were furrowed together when Sara entered his office. He glanced up from where he sat at his desk and gestured toward the door. "Close the door, Sara."  
  
The tone in his voice made her uncomfortable, but she closed the door and then stood in front of his desk.  
  
Grissom gestured toward the chair in front of his desk. "Have a seat."  
  
Sara sat down and looked at Grissom quizzically. "What's this about, Gris?"  
  
Grissom breathed out through his nose heavily and a bit of anger flashed across his face as he regarded her. He calmed himself before he spoke. "Have you been drinking? I smelled alcohol on your breath earlier."  
  
Sara just sat there dumbstruck. She wasn't sure how to answer the question without opening an entire can of worms.  
  
Grissom regarded her silence and irritation infused his voice. "Sara, it's a simple question. Yes or no?"  
  
"It's not what you think." She began, trying to figure out how to explain that she'd had a beer before she came into work to lessen the effects of a hangover.  
  
"What I think? Sara, you smell like you've been drinking." Grissom was dead serious.  
  
Anger flared in Sara's eyes. "I am not drunk if that's what you're implying."  
  
Grissom raised an eyebrow. "Then you won't mind explaining."  
  
Sara narrowed her gaze at Grissom. "I had a beer. I am not intoxicated."  
  
Grissom breathed out heavily. "Sara, this isn't about you, this is about the job. If you were intoxicated you could compromise an investigation, and your breath smells like alcohol."  
  
Sara gritted her teeth. "I am not intoxicated."  
  
"Fine." Grissom got up and gestured toward the door. "Then you won't mind taking a breathalyzer test."  
  
Sara was pissed, but she also knew that if she didn't comply she could be suspended or written up. "Fine." She followed Grissom down the hall where he retrieved a field breathalyzer for her to blow into. Once she was done and the instrument had displayed the results she glared at Grissom.  
  
Grissom noted that the alcohol level in her breath was no where near being legally drunk, but it also wasn't at zero either.  
  
"Satisfied?" Sara was clearly not happy with her boss.  
  
"Yes." Grissom replied, his tone was slightly flippant. "Nick and Greg are waiting."  
  
Sara didn't say another word, she just turned on her heels and went out to the parking lot where Nick and Greg were loading the last of their gear into the Denali. She climbed into the backseat without so much as a word to either of them.  
  
Nick and Greg exchanged a surprised glance at her behavior; Sara usually preferred to either drive or sit in the front passenger seat. Nick slid into the driver's seat and glanced back at her as Greg climbed into the passenger seat. "You ok, Sara?"  
  
Sara's arms were firmly crossed in front of her body and she didn't dare look Nick in the eye. "I'll be fine. We have a crime scene to get to."  
  
Nick turned the key in the ignition and watched her in the rearview mirror. Greg pivoted his body around to face her. "No offense, Sara, but you don't look ok."  
  
Sara shot Greg a withering glance. "I don't want to talk about it."  
  
Nick ignored what she was saying and pressed her. "What did Grissom say, Sara?" He knew that if she didn't get whatever it was out she would be unpleasant to work with at their crime scene and with Greg along, they both needed to be in top form to train him.  
  
Sara met Nick's eyes in the rearview mirror. "Your remedy backfired." She raised an eyebrow and smirked at him accusingly.  
  
He looked a little confused. "What? You don't have a headache any more do you?"  
  
"No, I don't have a headache, but that's not the point. He said he smelled it on my breath." Sara looked away.  
  
Nick cursed under his breath. "He didn't do what I think he did, did he?"  
  
Sara sounded like she was hissing. "He sure as hell did."  
  
Nick cursed again.  
  
Greg looked a bit perplexed. "Uh, I seem to be the only one who doesn't know what's going on."  
  
Nick looked at Sara in the rearview mirror and raised an eyebrow, gesturing towards Greg.  
  
Both of Sara's eyebrows shot up and her expression indicated that if he said a word, there would be another body to deal with at their crime scene and it wouldn't be hers or Greg's. 


	7. Bug Breath For A Headache?

The entire time Greg was helping Nick and Sara process the scene of a drive by shooting near the airport, he was trying to formulate what the pair were talking about on the way over. Whatever had happened when Sara had talked to Grissom had pissed her off. Not that this was unusual, she seemed to get pissed off a lot when it came to Grissom. Greg respected the man as a scientist and as his boss, but he didn't understand why Grissom had never made a move toward Sara. If Sara had been throwing herself at Greg, she would have only had to do it once.  
  
Greg tried to fit the pieces together. Sara had a headache. She didn't have one now. Nick had some remedy that he gave her. Whatever it was left some sort of smell on her breath that Grissom noticed. Whatever it was pissed him off enough to piss Sara off. Why would Nick care if Sara had a headache in the first place? The only time he cared when a woman had a headache was when. Hmm. Well that couldn't be the case here now. This was Nick and Sara. Sara had a thing for Grissom. Maybe he should ask Nick about this remedy, just in case he needed to offer it to a date. Of course, it had upset Grissom, so maybe it involved insects. Grissom was the only person he knew who probably knew what insects smelled like on your breath. Maybe Nick's headache remedy had something to do with eating Grissom's bugs. He regarded the creepy things almost as children, no wonder he was upset.  
  
"Sanders." Nick looked both annoyed and amused. He had said Greg's name now about three times.  
  
Greg looked up. "Uh, sorry."  
  
"I need you to photograph this." Nick gestured toward a bullet casing on the ground. He had asked Greg to follow him and Sara around as they had collected evidence to photograph the scene and hand them bindles. Greg had seemed distracted since they'd arrived at the crime scene and Nick was starting to get a little frustrated. It had indeed been a case of multiple victims and had all the earmarks of being a gang related drive by shooting. Scenes like this always made him a little nervous because gangs hated law enforcement about as much as they hated each other and had been known to return to a scene just to take a little target practice at police. The sooner they processed the scene and vacated the area, the more relaxed Nick would feel.  
  
Greg took the requested photos and then glanced at Nick, a cheesy grin spreading across his face. "So, Nick, what's this remedy of yours?"  
  
Nick chuckled. "Sanders, stick to the case."  
  
"You know I was thinking, if it's such a great remedy for headaches, I might want to know about it. I mean, you never know when it could come in handy." Greg paused. "Like on a date for example."  
  
Nick glanced up at Greg. "Hand me a bindle."  
  
Greg got a bindle and handed it to Nick. "Of course, if it involves eating bugs, then maybe I'll just stick to aspirin, but if you've got some new wonder cure, don't keep it to yourself."  
  
Nick was stuck on the image of eating bugs. "What the hell do bugs have to do with getting rid of a headache?"  
  
Greg furrowed his brow. If Grissom didn't smell insects on Sara's breath, then what did he smell, and why hadn't the rest of them smelled it? What could it be that would get him pissed off enough to piss Sara off? "Uh, I thought maybe that's why Grissom was mad at Sara. She said he smelled something on her breath and I figured he's the only one who would know what a bug smelled like. I mean I've never heard of using them to treat headaches, but then I don't watch the Discovery Channel as much as you do." Greg stopped and looked at Nick who was trying not to laugh. "Ok, so if it's not bugs, what is it?"  
  
Nick couldn't contain his laughter. "Greg, stick to the case."  
  
"I'll figure this out yet." Greg knew that there was something he wasn't getting in the overall scheme of things, but it was just a matter of time before he put the pieces together.  
  
Nick just shook his head and continued to look for evidence.  
  
Sara walked up with a smug expression on her face. "Find anything interesting?" The tone of her voice indicated that she had.  
  
Nick glanced up at her and shook his head. "Just bullet casings, which you'd expect at a the scene of a drive by." He raised an eyebrow at her. "What do you have?"  
  
Sara smiled. "A pair of women's underwear in one of the vics' pockets."  
  
Nick grinned at Sara. "Well, what do you think? Motive?"  
  
"Well if some guy had my underwear, I might have to make his life a little miserable." Sara raised an eyebrow at Nick.  
  
Greg just stood there grinning. "You need a picture of those, Sara?"  
  
She glanced over at him and shook her head. "We'll do it back at the lab."  
  
Nick looked at Greg. "Any evidence on the body is best left on the body until we do the prelim in the morgue. That way we don't lose trace."  
  
Greg nodded.  
  
They finished up the scene and piled into the Denali. This time, Sara sat in the front passenger seat.  
  
From the backseat, Greg cleared his throat. "So, Sara, why did you have a headache?"  
  
Sara shot Nick a warning look before turning toward Greg. "Why does it matter?"  
  
Greg shrugged. "Just curious." He was quiet for a few more minutes before he started talking again. "Uh, so why do you think that guy had women's underwear in his pocket?"  
  
"Trophy maybe?" Nick suggested.  
  
Sara narrowed her gaze at Nick. "Trophy, huh?"  
  
He knew what she was implying. They really needed to talk. "I'm thinking this guy took advantage of the girlfriend of a rival gang member and maybe the shooting was payback to avenge her honor."  
  
"Good theory." Sara had to admit. She and Nick really needed to talk though.  
  
You could hear the toothy grin in Greg's voice. "So, Sara, what kind of underwear do you wear?"  
  
Her jaw dropped and a bit of color rushed into her cheeks as she looked back at Greg. "That is absolutely none of your business."  
  
It was all Nick could do to not laugh. He was very well aware of what kind of underwear Sara wore.  
  
"What do you think, Nick? What do you think Sara wears?" Greg was still grinning at the image forming in his mind.  
  
Nick glanced over at Sara and chuckled. She shot him a glare. Nick looked at Greg in the rearview mirror. "If I had to venture a guess, I'd say Sara would go for comfort over sex appeal." He winked at Sara.  
  
Sara looked at Nick and then at Greg. "I cannot believe you are talking about this."  
  
"I bet you like lace." Greg wasn't getting the hint.  
  
Sara glared at Greg. "If you keep this up, I'll tell Grissom."  
  
Greg stopped talking.  
  
Nick was thoroughly amused, but he didn't say another word either.  
  
Once they arrived back at the lab, they unloaded the Denali and checked the evidence in. Greg took some of the samples they'd collected that they hoped contained DNA to the lab to process. Sara went to her locker to hang her coat up and Nick followed.  
  
She glanced over at him curiously. "Just what did you tell him?"  
  
Nick chuckled. "I didn't tell him anything. He's got a dirty mind all on his own." Nick closed his locker and turned to look at her. "He asked me though if my remedy had anything to do with eating Grissom's bugs."  
  
Sara laughed. "You're kidding, right?"  
  
Nick shook his head. "Maybe we should tell him that sometimes the most obvious thing is the right thing."  
  
"Just not in this context." Sara raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips to restrain a smile.  
  
Nick glanced around to make sure that they were alone. "When do you want to talk?"  
  
A smile flickered across her lips. "After shift. Come over for breakfast, we'll talk then." She moved to close her locker and then leaned toward him and whispered. "Bring my underwear or you're a dead man."  
  
Nick grinned. There was a hint of teasing in his voice. "Should I bring beer?"  
  
Sara frowned and put a hand on her stomach. "If I ever see another beer, it'll be too soon." 


	8. Fighting Flour With Flour

Sara entered the DNA lab to check with Greg on the status of the samples they'd collected at the crime scene.  
  
Greg glanced up and flashed her a cheesy grin as she entered. "Sara."  
  
Sara smiled at him suspiciously. There was something in his tone that led her to believe he was going to interrogate her further about her headache. "Greg, how are the samples?"  
  
"Couple of minutes and I'll have something for you." He continued to grin at her.  
  
Sara raised an eyebrow at him in an attempt to quell his eagerness. "What?"  
  
Greg chuckled softly. "Oh, nothing. I just think I figured out why you had a headache."  
  
Sara rolled her eyes, hoping that this wasn't the case. "Oh, really."  
  
Greg nodded. "You and Nick went out drinking after shift yesterday. A fact that I almost forgot."  
  
"Your point?" Sara hoped her tone didn't betray the fact that he was right; she didn't want the entire lab knowing that she'd gotten drunk.  
  
Greg leaned over and whispered conspiratorially. "Drinking a beer the morning after takes the edge off of a hangover."  
  
She deadpanned. "Page me when you get the results, Greg."  
  
As she turned to leave, Greg continued to chuckle. "Sara got a little drunk. Never would have expected that."  
  
Sara turned around and narrowed her gaze at him. "Greg, not a word or you're a dead man."  
  
He lifted a hand and smiled. "Your secret's safe with me." He lowered the tone of his voice. "I'm right though, aren't I? That's what Grissom smelled on your breath."  
  
Sara just glared at him and turned on her heals heading down the hallway to process more evidence.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
By the time Nick arrived at Sara's, she was not in a good mood. Not only had Greg figured out that she'd had a hangover, it seemed he'd managed to share the information with Archie, David, Warrick, Jaqui, and Catherine. When she opened the door to let him in, Nick raised his eyebrows at her quizzically. She narrowed her gaze at him. "You had better have my underwear."  
  
Nick nodded. "I do. What's wrong?"  
  
Embarrassment and hurt flashed across her face. "It seems that Greg told the entire lab that I got drunk."  
  
Nick clarified. "Greg?"  
  
She looked into his eyes and nodded. "He figured it out, but he said he wouldn't say anything."  
  
Nick let out a deep breath and looked at the floor for a moment, his hands resting on his hips. "Actually, I don't think that Greg said anything."  
  
"What do you mean?" Sara felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.  
  
Nick looked up at her with a serious expression. "A couple of hours before the end of shift, Grissom hauled me into his office. He remembered that you and I were going to grab a beer after shift yesterday. He reamed me out for letting you drink too much. I'm pretty sure that's why everyone knows, he was pretty loud." Nick winced as he looked up.  
  
Sara wrapped her arms around her body and tried to quell the angry tears that threatened to form in her eyes. "That asshole."  
  
Concern flickered across Nick's face. He tentatively reached for her to give her a hug. "Hey, it's ok."  
  
She shook her head and pushed him away. "No, it's not ok. I'm not ok. I don't like being talked about like that, especially by my boss."  
  
Nick let out a deep breath and put his hand on her shoulder. "Sara, we can't do anything about it."  
  
She nodded. "I know, but it pisses me off."  
  
Nick caressed her shoulder with his thumb. "At least he doesn't know about what happened after we got drunk."  
  
Sara considered that for a moment and a smirk spread across her face. "He would kill you if he found out."  
  
Nick feigned innocence. "Me?" He put his hand on his chest. "You threw yourself at me."  
  
She raised an eyebrow, a faint smile beginning to tug at her mouth. "After you hit on me."  
  
Nick couldn't help but smile. "Ok, I did hit on you. Can you blame me?"  
  
"You were drunk." Sara figured she might as well lay things out from the start.  
  
"So were you." Nick offered. "But then, that's why we need to talk about this."  
  
Sara looked a little nervous at the prospect of rehashing what had transpired between them not even twenty-four hours before.  
  
"Do you want to talk or eat, because I seem to recall someone offering to make me breakfast." Nick tried to lighten the moment.  
  
Sara let out a deep breath and smiled. "I'll cook, we'll talk. Ok."  
  
He nodded.  
  
They made their way into the kitchen and Sara started to make pancake batter from scratch.  
  
"You know, they sell that stuff premixed in bags at the grocery store." Nick commented as he watched her with interest.  
  
She shot him a withering glance. "Nick, I grew up in a bed and breakfast. I don't do pancake mix from a bag."  
  
Nick looked amused. "I guess I won't be making you pancakes anytime soon at my house then."  
  
She raised an eyebrow. "It's not that hard to make them from scratch."  
  
"Unless you don't have flour in your house." Nick replied smirking.  
  
Sara's eyebrows shot up and then she started laughing. "You don't have flour?"  
  
"Hey, I don't cook that often. Why would I have flour?" Nick grinned.  
  
Sara shook her head and then flicked flour in his face.  
  
It took Nick a minute and then he started to laugh. "You're asking for it."  
  
Sara squealed as Nick reached over, grabbed some flour and flicked it back at her. He kept peppering her with flour until she tried to block the bag of flour on the counter with her body while grabbing for his hands. Nick ended up grabbing her wrists instead and pinned her against the counter with his body.  
  
They just looked at each other for a moment, not saying anything.  
  
"You have flour on your face." Sara's voice was husky as she broke the silence.  
  
"So do you." Nick whispered, his breath felt warm on her face as he slowly angled his face towards hers.  
  
Sara glanced at Nick's lips.  
  
Nick's face was just a fraction on an inch from hers, his eyes searching hers. "What are we going to do about this?"  
  
"What do you want to do about this?" Sara felt her heart rate increasing and she could tell Nick's was too.  
  
"I think you know what I want." Nick leaned a little closer.  
  
Sara had to force the words out, his lips were too distracting. "This can't just be about sex." Her voice was barely a whisper.  
  
Nick smiled. "It isn't."  
  
"So, what is it then?" Sara was having a hard time remaining focused with his lips almost touching hers. She felt her eyes drifting shut, the lids seemingly too heavy to stay open.  
  
"Most people would call it dating." Nick answered.  
  
If Sara had to sum up what sexy sounded like she'd have to say that Nick's voice at that moment defined it. Sara barely managed a whisper. "Ok."  
  
In the next instant, Nick's lips barely brushed hers in what felt like excruciating bliss. Sara let out a whimper and moved to press her lips against his in a more substantial kiss. As they began to deepen the kiss, they both suddenly pulled apart with grimaces on their faces and then started laughing as they took in each other's flour covered appearance.  
  
"Flour doesn't taste very good does it?" Nick wiped at his mouth trying to get the taste out.  
  
Sara shook her head. "Uh, uh."  
  
Nick reached over and tried to dust some of the flour out of Sara's hair as they grinned at each other. "Maybe we should clean up and try that again." 


	9. Icing On The Cake

Sara had certainly gotten the worst part of the bargain. She had flour in her hair, up her nose, all over her face, and on her clothes, while Nick had some on his face and only a little in his hair. Sara finally decided that she needed a shower and Nick volunteered to clean up the kitchen and order some take out.  
  
By the time Sara emerged from the bathroom freshly showered and clad in a pair of pajama pants and a T-shirt, Nick was arranging cartons of Chinese food on her coffee table. She eased herself onto the couch next to him and a smile flitted across her face as she noticed he still had traces of flour in his hair. She reached up and tried to dust it out with her fingers. "There's still a little in your hair."  
  
"I think it's pretty much stuck there until I take a shower." Nick handed her a plate and grinned. "I noticed that it sort of turns glue-like when it gets wet."  
  
Sara giggled as she noticed several globs which had formed in his hair. "Why do you think I took so long in the shower?"  
  
Nick looked at her a little sheepishly. "I'm sorry, that must have been a pain in the ass to get out of your hair."  
  
She smirked and pointed to the food. "Eat. We still have some talking to do."  
  
He grabbed a carton of sweet and sour pork and started eating. "What do you want to talk about?"  
  
Sara rolled her eyes and swatted at him. "You know very well what we need to talk about. For starters, what are we going to tell people at work?"  
  
He chuckled. "We could just tell them we're dating. Or we could tell them nothing and let them figure it out on their own."  
  
"Oh, that sounds like a great idea." Sara couldn't hide the sarcasm in her voice. "Let's just let them come up with their own story and spread rumors."  
  
"Ok, we'll tell them we're dating then." Nick took another bite of food.  
  
Sara was quiet for a moment. "So, can we define 'dating'?"  
  
Nick smiled at her. "Sara, what do you need me to tell you? If you're not ok with this, we don't have to date each other, but like I said before, I'm not sure I'm satisfied with being just your friend anymore."  
  
She nervously bit at her lip before speaking. "It's not that, I just don't want them to know about how we ended up together. It's bad enough that they all seem to know I got drunk."  
  
"You worry too much about what other people think, Sar." Nick gently chided her. "Regardless of what you tell people, they're still going to talk."  
  
Sara was quiet for a moment. "So define 'dating'."  
  
Nick chuckled at her insistence and slung his arm over her shoulder. "Dating. Well, it's a lot like friendship, only with friendship we don't get to do this." He cupped her cheek and leaned over and softly kissed her. As he broke the kiss he smiled. "Does than answer your question?"  
  
There was a hint of amusement and warning in her voice. "Nick."  
  
"Apparently not." He leaned in and kissed her again, this time deeper and more insistent.  
  
Sara whimpered and returned the kiss with equal fervor. As they finally broke apart, Sara put her fingers on Nick's lips as she tried to catch her breath. "This is just so risky, Nick."  
  
He smiled and reached up and took her hand away from his mouth, holding it in his own. "Life is risky, Sara. There aren't any guarantees. Sure we don't know where this might go, but then how are we going to know if we don't try?"  
  
"I'm scared." Sara confessed, biting her lower lip.  
  
Nick smiled. "So am I."  
  
Sara's eyebrows shot up. "You are?"  
  
Nick nodded. "You're one of my best friends, Sara, but like I said before, I don't think I can be satisfied with just being your friend any more."  
  
"Can we still just hang out and talk?" Sara was worried that once they'd crossed that line that there was a danger in getting caught up in the physical element of their relationship and she was afraid of losing her friend.  
  
Nick grinned. "Sara, that's one of the best things about this, I don't want to give up our friendship, but kissing you is like putting icing on an incredible cake."  
  
"Just not when I'm covered in flour." Sara smirked.  
  
"You did look pretty cute, but the flour didn't taste too good." Nick quipped.  
  
Sara smiled. "You know, it's not that I'm opposed to sleeping with you."  
  
"Good, because we've already slept together, it's just the sex part that we didn't get to enjoy." Nick replied with a grin.  
  
She elbowed him. "You didn't let me finish."  
  
He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Sorry."  
  
She looked at him with a more serious expression. "It's just that I really like talking to you and hanging out with you and being goofy sometimes. I don't want to lose what makes being with you so much fun."  
  
Nick tightened his arm around her shoulder. "Neither do I, Sara."  
  
"Good." Sara leaned her head on his shoulder and smiled. "So, we're dating then. How are we going to tell everyone?"  
  
"We could just tell Greg." Nick's voice held a hint of teasing.  
  
Sara smirked. "That would certainly be faster than the PA system."  
  
Nick laughed for a moment and then furrowed his brow. "Hey, we probably should tell Gris. I mean, he is our boss."  
  
Sara groaned. "I'll let you tell him."  
  
"You're not afraid of him are you?" Nick teased.  
  
She smirked again. "No, but I still don't want to be the one to tell him."  
  
Nick pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Ok, I'll tell him, but you have to come with me."  
  
"Deal." Sara agreed.  
  
Nick leaned over and kissed her softly, he smiled as he pulled away. "You taste a lot better without flour all over your face."  
  
She giggled and leaned up to kiss him again. "So do you." 


	10. Stop Go Stop Go Stop Go Stop I'll...

They were in the middle of a pretty intense kiss and Nick's hand, which was already halfway up Sara's shirt, began to drift a little higher when something occurred to Sara. She stiffened and broke the kiss, wrapping her fingers around Nick's wrist as she pulled his hand out from under her shirt.  
  
Confusion clouded Nick's face. "What?"  
  
Sara smiled at him nervously. "Uh, we still have a few things we need to talk about before things get completely out of control here."  
  
Nick's hormones had been about ready to kick into overdrive when Sara had pushed him away and he wasn't thinking clearly. "Talk?"  
  
She nodded and bit her lower lip. "We still need to talk about what happened or didn't happen yesterday."  
  
Nick tried to focus. "I thought we already talked about that."  
  
Sara shook her head. "No, we didn't, not really."  
  
"But we decided that we wanted to date each other." Nick clearly wasn't on the same wavelength as Sara.  
  
Sara smirked. "I want to date you, Nick. But that's not what I'm talking about."  
  
It suddenly dawned on him what Sara was referring to. "Oh, you're still worried about whether or not we had sex."  
  
"Still? Nick, if we had sex it was unprotected. Now you might not see that as a problem, but I do." Sara had an edge of panic in her voice.  
  
Nick reached over and took her hand. "Sara, let's try and think about this logically."  
  
Her eyebrows shot up. "Logically? Nick, did you know that there are documented cases of impregnation without penetration?"  
  
If she hadn't been so serious, Nick would have laughed. Instead, he let out a deep breath and tried to keep the corners of his mouth from twitching upward. "What is the statistical probability of that happening?"  
  
"I don't care. If it's happened once, the possibility exists for it to happen again." Sara was definitely not thinking logically. For once in her life, her emotions were completely ruling her line of thinking.  
  
Nick tried another approach. "So whether or not we actually had sex, you're going to worry about this."  
  
"But what if I'm pregnant?" Sara's voice was filled with panic.  
  
Nick squeezed her hand. "What if you're not? When are you supposed to get your period?"  
  
Sara bit at her lip. "Next week."  
  
"Then we'll know for sure." Nick's tone implied that he'd found the solution to the problem.  
  
"Nick, did you know that you can be pregnant and still get your period the first month." Sara informed him.  
  
Nick let out a deep breath. "No, I didn't know that." He looked at her for a moment and then moved to stand up. "Maybe I should go."  
  
Sara shook her head. "No."  
  
Nick chuckled softly in frustration. "I'm not sure what you want me to do here. You're worried that you might be pregnant because we may or may not have had sex. And even if we didn't have sex, which I'm inclined to believe because I really hate to think I wouldn't remember making love to you, you're still worried. I don't know what to do."  
  
"Don't leave." Sara pleaded with her eyes.  
  
Nick closed his eyes for a moment and let out a deep breath. "Look, I know this is scary, but we can't do anything about what did or didn't happen yesterday. All I know is I want to be with you and you want to be with me. Can't we just figure this out as we go along?"  
  
"I'm sorry, Nick." Sara's voice sounded small and unsure.  
  
Nick pulled her into a hug. "You have nothing to apologize for. If I hadn't been such a huge chicken, I could have asked you out a long time ago and we wouldn't have had to get drunk to admit to each other that we wanted more than just friendship."  
  
Sara smiled. "What are we going to tell everyone at work?"  
  
"Uh, I thought we said we were going to tell them that we were dating." Nick sounded a little confused.  
  
"No, I mean, they're going to want to know why." She pulled out of the hug and looked at him. "What are we going to tell them?"  
  
Nick chuckled softly. "Well, since telling the truth is out of the question."  
  
Sara smacked him. "You better believe it is. If word gets out about the ALS, we are never going to live that down."  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow and rubbed his shoulder. "Ever consider a boxing career?"  
  
Sara raised an eyebrow in challenge. "I didn't smack you that hard."  
  
Nick's lips twitched into a smile.  
  
Sara chuckled. "What are we going to tell them?"  
  
"We could tell them part of the truth. They already know you got drunk, we could just tell them I kissed you, we don't have to tell them the rest." Nick suggested, pulling her back into a hug.  
  
Sara considered that for a moment. "That could work."  
  
"Is there anything else we need to talk about? Because I don't want to start kissing you again until we get this all hashed out." There was a hint of amusement in his tone.  
  
Sara leaned up and kissed him. "Just one thing." She kissed him again.  
  
Nick tightened his grip on her waist. "What's that?" He kissed her.  
  
She murmured against his lips. "Do." Kiss. "You." Kiss. "Have." Kiss. "Protection?" Kiss.  
  
Nick let out a groan and broke the kiss, resting his forehead against hers. "No. I didn't want to be presumptuous."  
  
Sara closed her eyes and exhaled heavily. "Nick." There was a mixture of longing and disappointment in her voice.  
  
Nick cupped her cheek with his hand. "Hey, I didn't want to come over here expecting anything, Sara. I came to talk so we could figure things out."  
  
"I know." Her voice was a whisper.  
  
"I should go." Nick whispered. He knew if he didn't they would end up in bed and then Sara would really be worried about the possibility of getting pregnant. Next time, he'd come prepared.  
  
"Ok." The tone in her voice implied that she clearly didn't want him to go.  
  
"I'll be prepared next time. Ok?" Nick really didn't want to leave any more than she wanted him to.  
  
Sara nodded. "Ok."  
  
Nick leaned in and kissed her one last time before standing up and grabbing his jacket. "I'll see you tonight."  
  
Sara walked over to where he stood by the door and leaned up to kiss him again. "Ok."  
  
Nick smiled as he pulled away and then headed out the door.  
  
It was only after he was gone that Sara realized that he was still in possession of her underwear. 


	11. What Was That?

Nick stood in front of his locker that evening getting ready for shift when Catherine walked in. She let out a low throaty chuckle as she walked over toward Nick and pulled something out of the pocket of his jacket that had been poking out. "Got a new girlfriend, Nick?"  
  
Nick glanced at her and as he notice what she held up in her hand, he turned bright red and tried to restrain his smile. Dangling from her fingers was a pair of black lace panties that belonged to one Ms. Sara Sidle. Nick had completely forgotten to take them out of his jacket pocket and return them to Sara.  
  
"I'll take that as a yes." Catherine grinned at him.  
  
Nick reached over and grabbed for the garment, but Catherine pulled it just out of reach. Nick raised an eyebrow at her. "Catherine."  
  
Catherine wasn't about to give it up until he gave her a little more information. "So, what's her name?"  
  
"Catherine, please." Nick had one hand on his hip and the other outstretched in an effort to get the garment back.  
  
Catherine had a wide grin on her face. "How much is it worth to you?"  
  
Nick started to chuckle. "Catherine, Catherine, Catherine."  
  
At just that moment, Warrick walked in. Warrick looked thoroughly amused at the expression on Nick's face and what appeared to be Catherine teasing him about something. "What's going on?"  
  
Catherine grinned and held up the underwear so Warrick could clearly see it. "Look what I found hanging out of Nick's pocket."  
  
Warrick started to laugh. "What's her name?"  
  
"What's whose name?" Sara walked in completely oblivious to what Catherine had in her hand.  
  
Catherine looked at Sara conspiratorially and held up the underwear. "Nick's got a new girlfriend. Look what I found hanging out of his pocket."  
  
Sara felt her cheeks burning as they infused with color. She glanced over at Nick, his face was equally red. He looked at her apologetically. Sara pasted a smile on her face and forced her voice to stay even as she stepped toward Catherine, taking the undergarment out of her hand. "Uh, those are mine."  
  
Both Catherine and Warrick's faces reflected shock.  
  
Sara walked over to Nick and leaned up and placed a quick kiss on his lips before whispering in his ear. "You are a dead man." Brushing past him, she opened her locker and tossed the underwear inside before taking her badge out and hanging up her jacket.  
  
"Yours?" Catherine was trying to process what she'd just witnessed.  
  
Sara turned around and forced her smile again as she nodded. She glanced over at Nick who couldn't stop grinning. She nudged him with her elbow. "Are you going to say something?"  
  
"Sorry." He smiled at her and then looked over at Catherine and Warrick. "Uh, Sara and I are dating."  
  
"When did this happen?" Catherine wanted to know as she studied the two young CSIs.  
  
"Recently." Nick's answer was purposely vague. After the appearance of the underwear, no one was going to buy that he'd just kissed her when they'd gotten drunk.  
  
"Does Grissom know?" Warrick queried them knowing full well that it probably wasn't going to set too well with their boss.  
  
"Uh, no." Sara answered, looking over at Nick. "We were planning on doing that today. Weren't we, Nick?"  
  
He grinned at her. "Yes, we were."  
  
Catherine and Warrick exchange a glance that expressed that they'd like to be a fly on that wall.  
  
"Uh, we should probably do that before shift, don't you think, Sar?" Nick suggested wanting to get the inevitable over with.  
  
She nodded before turning towards Catherine and Warrick and pointing towards her locker. "Uh, do you think you guys could keep, uh, what I mean, uh."  
  
Nick interrupted. "Not a word about the underwear, ok?" He looked at both of them with a serious expression.  
  
Catherine shook her head noncommittally and Warrick nodded. Not because they wouldn't want to tease Nick, but because the last thing they wanted was to make Sara upset, which would assuredly make Grissom upset.  
  
Nick and Sara made their way down the hallway toward Grissom's office. Sara glanced over at him and in a low voice hissed at him. "Why were those in your pocket?"  
  
"Because I was a little distracted when I came over. I was going to give them back to you this morning, but we got a little busy." He looked somewhat amused by her embarrassment.  
  
"You are so dead." Sara continued, a smirk flitting across her face.  
  
In a flirtatious tone, Nick replied. "Should I be looking forward to that?"  
  
Sara had to try and swallow her smile. "Maybe."  
  
They neared Grissom's office and their banter ceased. Pausing in the doorway, Nick tapped softly on the door. Grissom glanced up from his desk.  
  
Nick smiled. "Uh, Gris, can we talk to you for a minute?"  
  
Grissom looked at Nick and Sara over the rim of his glasses and waved them in. "How's the case?"  
  
"Uh, fine, but this isn't about the case." Nick began.  
  
Grissom looked at them curiously. "What's this about then?" His tone implied that he was expecting to talk about Sara's hangover from the previous shift.  
  
"Uh, we, uh, Sara and I, uh." Nick looked over at Sara for a little help. She looked amused at his discomfort in talking to Grissom about them. Not getting any help from her, Nick turned back toward Grissom and spit his words out as fast as he could. "Uh, we're dating."  
  
Grissom looked at him quizzically, not sure if he'd heard Nick correctly. "What was that?"  
  
Nick let out a deep breath and tried to repeat himself a little more slowly without much success. "Sara and I are dating." It came out almost as fast as the first time.  
  
Grissom still looked at him without quite comprehending what he was saying.  
  
Finally, Sara interrupted. "Grissom, Nick and I are dating." Her words were clear and precise.  
  
Grissom was speechless. He just sat there looking at Nick and Sara without saying a word. Finally, he nodded and they took it as their cue to leave.  
  
As they walked down the hall toward the break room, Sara glanced over at Nick with a smirk. "You never told me you were afraid of him."  
  
Nick defended. "I'm not afraid of him."  
  
Sara raised her eyebrow in challenge.  
  
Nick smirked. "Ok, when it comes to you, I'm afraid of him."  
  
Sara linked her arm with Nick's and grinned. "What do you think Greg's going to say when he finds out?"  
  
Nick looked over at her and started to laugh. 


	12. Dessert

"I can't believe Greg didn't have a coronary." Nick quipped. He and Sara were sitting on her couch eating breakfast.  
  
"Greg? I thought Warrick and Catherine were going to have a heart attack before we even got there." Sara quipped back.  
  
"Well, if Warrick hadn't kept making comments all the way to the crime scene, we wouldn't have had to do something to shut him up." Nick grinned.  
  
Sara smirked at him. "If you had given me back my underwear when you were supposed to in the first place he wouldn't have had any reason to tease us."  
  
The entire crew of CSIs had been called out to a large crime scene about thirty miles outside of Vegas that shift. Nick and Sara had ridden to the scene with Warrick and Catherine, and Grissom was already there with Greg.  
  
On the way to the scene, Warrick razzed Nick and Sara about the underwear Catherine had found in Nick's pocket. "So, Nick, are you sure those weren't yours and Sara wasn't just covering for you?"  
  
"Not funny, man." Nick tossed back.  
  
"I never would have figured you for a lace man, Nick." Warrick continued to toss comments toward the backseat as he drove. Catherine just sat there trying not to laugh too hard.  
  
Finally, Sara decided to take matters into her own hands. "Warrick, just let us know when we get to the scene."  
  
He was about to ask why when he glanced in the rearview mirror. Sara had pulled Nick into a kiss and the pair quickly became oblivious to the barbs coming from the front seat.  
  
"You guys can't do that at crime scenes." Warrick jested.  
  
Sara flipped him off and returned her attention to Nick.  
  
The remainder of the ride was fairly quiet, with the occasional snicker coming from Warrick and Catherine. When they pulled into the crime scene, Nick and Sara were still kissing in the backseat. It wasn't until Warrick turned off the ignition that the pair broke apart. As they did, they noticed that Greg Sanders stood right outside the vehicle with his jaw agape. Apparently he'd witnessed them kissing. He just looked at Nick and Sara with disbelief for a while as they began processing the scene and then began to quiz them about their relationship. He would have kept it up all night too if Grissom hadn't told him he'd better focus or go back to the lab.  
  
After shift was over, Nick and Sara had headed over to her apartment to eat breakfast.  
  
"Grissom still hasn't said anything about us, has he?" Nick glanced over at Sara as he trailed his fork around his plate to get the last traces of his food.  
  
Sara snickered. "I think he's a little shocked. I think they were all a little shocked."  
  
"Think he'll let us keep working scenes together?" Nick queried her.  
  
Sara smiled. "I don't see why not. We work well together." She chuckled and looked over at him. "Of course, I don't think we should make a habit of making out on the way to crime scenes either."  
  
Nick's eyebrows shot up and he started to laugh. "That was your idea, not mine."  
  
"You didn't seem to mind at the time." Sara teased flirtatiously.  
  
"Well it shut Warrick up pretty fast." Nick grinned.  
  
She smirked. "I flipped him off."  
  
Nick looked at her in disbelief and started to laugh. "You didn't."  
  
She nodded. "Yes, I did. I got tired of hearing about my underwear and I figured we still had fifteen or twenty minutes until we got to the crime scene, and kissing you was a much more enjoyable way to pass the time than listening to him."  
  
Nick continued to laugh as he put his plate down on her coffee table. "That is so damn funny. No wonder he shut up so quickly."  
  
"Are you done eating?" Sara gestured toward his empty plate.  
  
He nodded.  
  
"Ready for dessert?" Sara smiled innocently.  
  
"Dessert? After breakfast?" Nick wasn't following her line of thinking.  
  
Sara picked up the dishes and carried them into the kitchen. "Well, if you don't want any."  
  
"No, I could have some. What do you have? Ice cream? Pie?" Nick stood up and followed her into the kitchen, looking around for the mystery dessert.  
  
Sara put the dishes in the sink and then turned and snaked her arms around Nick's neck. "Sometimes you can be pretty slow." She leaned in and kissed him and smiled as Nick started to chuckle.  
  
"This is a pretty good dessert." Nick murmured against her lips.  
  
"There's more where that came from." Sara giggled.  
  
Nick wrapped his arms around her waist and they traded deep passion infused kisses as they moved toward Sara's bedroom.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Sara's head rested on Nick's shoulder. She traced lazy circles on his chest with her fingers. "Nick?"  
  
He had a satisfied grin on his face as he trailed his fingers up and down Sara's back. "Yeah?"  
  
"Drunk or not, I don't think there is any way we could have not remembered something like that." She smiled and nestled herself closer to him.  
  
Nick chuckled softly. "Yeah, I would definitely have remembered that."  
  
"Pretty good?" Sara queried him, her eyelids getting heavy.  
  
"Pretty amazing." Nick yawned and closed his eyes.  
  
They drifted off to sleep a few minutes later, both of them smiling.  
  
~ The End ~  
  
Author's Note: Thanks to all the readers and reviewers for taking your time to read my distraction/hobby. Your time is valuable and I appreciate your input.  
  
One specific note to the reviewer that found their review pulled: when a review deserves a rating higher than the story that is being reviewed due to it's graphic sexual content, you might want to think twice before posting. I am open to all criticism, however, please remember that this is fanfiction and we are all taking liberties in the first place by writing these stories. Certain artistic liberties are the author's choice. By not getting into graphic detail about certain things, I am trying to keep within the rating I've chosen for my story and trying not to completely offend my readers. Your review was very offensive and presumptuous in its content and you could have stated your points in a much less graphic and offensive manner while still expressing your views. 


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